Ban’s side effects
I don’t smoke and I look forward to going to my favorite watering hole to watch my teams play without having to put my clothes on the porch to air out when I get home. But I also need to acknowledge the side effects of the complete ban on smoking in public places. When I recently went to Chase Plaza to sit and enjoy the sunshine while I ate lunch, again I was assailed by the smoke from office denizens forced outdoors. Later as I walked to the Millennium Park bike garage to retrieve my bike for the ride home, instead of enjoying the fresh air on a sunny warm spring day, I was again sucking in the fumes of all the smokers standing outside their smoke-free office buildings.
I am all for improving the quality of indoor air, but the effect has been to reduce the quality of the outdoor air. I support the smoking ban in true indoor public places: lobbies, elevators, theaters, restaurants, bars, etc. But it is time to rethink the total ban of smoking in offices. Give smokers back their dedicated lounge and give me back some of my sidewalk space.
Daniel Palmer
Evanston
Passing the ban
Bravo to the General Assembly for passing the Smoke Free Illinois Act and to Gov. Rod Blagojevich for his intention to sign it into law. From 1990 to 2005, the American Lung Association of Illinois worked to reverse the pre-emption in the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act, so that local municipalities could regulate smoking in public places. While the “reverse pre-emption” bill had varying degrees of success over the years, it finally passed both chambers and the governor signed it into law in 2005. The new law allowed us to begin our local coalition strategy: identifying, working and building local coalitions throughout the state to help them pass local clean indoor air laws. Our local coalition strategy provided the building blocks that refuted the scare tactics that had prevented the passage of this important public health law for years. Community after community, voters supported local smoke-free laws.
Harold P. Wimmer, President and CEO, American Lung Association of Illinois
Oakbrook Terrace
